


Bad Dads, a Cuphead AU

by N_Sani_Tea



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Ending, Bad end, Boss/Employee Relationship, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M, Multi, Partners to Lovers, Snake Eyes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24475255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N_Sani_Tea/pseuds/N_Sani_Tea
Summary: Cuphead and Mugman agreed to give the contracts to the Devil and now belong to him. As well as the Devil wiping the memories of all who knew them, they now have to adapt to life in the casino and learn what it means to work for their previous rivals. But something is wrong and they seem to be losing themselves along the way, what is happening in this place of gambling?
Relationships: Pip & Dot (Cuphead) - Relationship, Pip/Dot (Cuphead), The Devil & King Dice (Cuphead), The Devil/King Dice (Cuphead)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	1. The Descent.

"You're mine now! And We're gonna have a hell of a time down here...!!"

The Devil smirked at the two cup brothers with a glint in his eye as the contracts were now in his hands, doing exactly what they were told was probably not the most sensible idea this time around. They were tricked and were seeing how bad the Devil really was. Cuphead moved back with his brother Mugman beside him as they both tried to avoid whatever the Devil did next. He simply laughed at the two's attempts at getting away from him now that they had both given the contracts to him.

"Too late boys." He boasted "You agreed and now you belong to me. I've wiped the memories of everyone in Inkwell Isle. Nobody remembers who you were."

"You're a rotten cad, Devil." Cuphead chided. Mugman nodded in agreement.

"Hah! You should have realised that when you entered my casino. You work for me and King Dice now." 

King Dice walked in, looking like their battle never happened, dusting off his suit and smiling widely like he always did. The cup brothers just gawked at him. "Yes, you two. I'm your boss now."

"More accurately, we are both your bosses." The Devil continued.

Mugman spoke up. "We would never work for you."

He laughed again "Oh you will. You can't leave now. Nobody will recognise you or try to look for you."

The two cup brothers were at an impasse. Go home where nobody knows who they are or work with the literal Devil. They looked at each other, knowing that the only choice they had was to go with him and King Dice. "Fine... We'll do it." Cuphead sighed, feeling utterly defeated, stepping forward and looked at King Dice, "What's our first job, boss?" He asked politely. 

"Ah, that's more like it." King Dice grinned at the two brothers. "Let me show you around the casino first. You have a lot to learn."

Mugman, clearly trying to avoid this stepped back, but Cuphead looked at him and he sighed, following along. "Yes, boss." 

Thus started their slow descent.

King Dice led the two boys to the casino. Only there was a different air about the place, unlike when the place seemed to be full of sinister feeling and malice, it was now a place abuzz with laughter, dancing, playing on slot machines and merry drinking. A complete turnaround from before, it was like a completely different place and the cup brothers couldn't help but feel amazed by the change, mouths agape as they looked around at the sheer ecstasy that was the people in the place. Even the swing music playing over the speakers was enjoyable. King Dice seemed more jolly here than his usual smug grin. Mugman was the first to speak after becoming dumbfounded by the change in mood, "Is this really the casino?"

"Sure is, boys!" He sounded very pleased, his attitude more happy than sneaky like this place was a pride and joy to him. It made sense to the two since he seemed to practically live in this place, a home for a die that was truly fitting. "I'll be showing you around this place. It's a lot bigger than what you two have seen. In fact, you only saw the surface!" He started walking away in hopes they would follow. Which they did.

"See this place isn't just a casino. It's also several different things! We have a swing club in one section and a bar in another, even a beer garden and restaurant. Anything you could want is here. Food, friends, laughs. The big cheese likes it swanky and you won't get more so than this place." He boasted. Cuphead and Mugman looking a little less sorry for themselves and more excited to be working somewhere so upbeat and joyful. 

Cuphead smiled for the first time since giving the contracts. "Alright! This place seems pretty good now that we have seen it properly! What's our first job?" 

King Dice turned back to them, "Your first job is to monitor this place. Make sure people have fun and nobody runs off like all the debtors you had to face before. If someone loses a bet to us, they owe us. Simple." it certainly sounded simple.

"That's it?" Mugman questioned. 

"Sure is boys" Dice chuckled. "Did you expect something harder?"

"Well yeah... " he looked at dice with a confused face. "Especially considering who we are working for..." Cuphead nodded in agreement at his brother. 

"Well, the work may be simple but runnin' this place requires some pretty hard managin'. But you two have a lotta extra hands here. The amount of staff already here means it should be easier on you two. Go have a chat with some of them. You'll recognise them from our battle."

"Why are you suddenly being so nice?" Cuphead asked. "We beat you and your cronies."

"Well..." He rubbed his chin, or rather where a chin would be if his die head had one. "You did defeat me, yes, but you work for me and the Devil now. So you're not a problem any more. You're an asset! So there's no need to be mean. Also, they ain't cronies, they're associates." The cups simply looked at each other and shrugged in agreement. Continuing to follow him as he demonstrated how things worked in the casino.

Both Cuphead and Mugman got more intrigued the deeper they went into the place. The place was so vast and contained so many entrances and exits that it was easy to get lost. But with King Dice to lead them and his knowledge of the place being like the back of his hand, it was soon that they learned the ins and outs of each slot machine and pinball table. The two of them thought that this wasn't so bad. Everyone seemed so cheerful that they couldn't help but smile at the patrons and their activities. Even though they didn't recognise the two boys any more it was still met with delight.

Finally, King Dice led them to the restaurant section of the place and went to the receptionist. The restaurant looked Pretty fanciful too. Just like the rest of the place, with its lush carpet and painted walls. Cuphead and Mugman were excited to eat there, just the smell of the food was delightful enough to get them interested in having some food. Thankfully they didn't have to wait long as the waiter immediately let them in on account of being with King Dice. Seems he had priority seating in this place, made sense seeing as he had quite a high status in the casino.

The three sat down and looked at the menu. The menu itself was pretty small but seemed to have some kind of ability to show exactly what the person wanted at that time, so the three of them ordered whatever it was that the menu showed, only King Dice knowing that the menu was prone to change.

"After this your I'll give you your first real job." King Dice explained, "By that I mean I'll be leaving you two on your own and letting you get on with it. I've shown you the ropes and can trust you not to get lost now. I have my own work that I need to get back to." The brothers nodded in understanding. He seemed like a busy guy, especially from what the Two cups had seen of him before they came here. "Sure thing boss." They responded. King Dice simply smiled a genuine smile.

The waiter came and provided their food all the same and the brothers began to eat, the food was delectable and they couldn't help but enjoy it whilst King Dice simply ate his own. Something about the food was irresistible, food from Hell somehow being better than the food even Elder Kettle cooked.

"What's it like?" Cuphead started in between bites. 

"Hm?" King Dice looked up from his food.

"Working for the devil, I mean. I mean the place is good and the job is also good. But working for the big guy up top, what's it like?" both looking at King Dice expectantly as he finished his mouthful.

King Dice thought for a minute, before starting a small explanation "To be honest, it's the best work I've ever had. But only because of one thing."

"What's that?" Mugman asked.

KIng dice seemed a lot more serious now, "When I was first introduced to him, I was almost homeless. Living life in the red constantly."

"In debt? Wow." The two cups seemed invested. "Never thought I'd expect that from you."

"It's true." He continued, "I was so down on my luck that I came to the casino to try and see if I could win some kind of money and get myself on the right road again."

"Did it work?" 

"No. It failed horribly. I lost more money that I didn't have. Failed the roulette and rolled classic snake eyes on my first roll, Like you did Cuphead."

"Don't remind me..." He griped, "But still, the legendary King Dice losing a bet?"

"Heh. back then I was just known as Mr Dice. I wasn't known as "King" until much later."

"Hehe, does the Devil call you that." Cuphead jested.

"Yeah... Everyone does."

"Ah..." He felt a bit silly.

"Anyway, The Devil came to me and mentioned that he saw how badly I was doing. He'd never seen anyone play so awfully."

"That's rare for the Devil to do that."

"Yeah, Before then the Devil only came to those to make a bet with patrons of his casino. It was practically unheard of."

"He must have seen something special in you."

"No clue. But I asked him what he wanted and he said he would give me all I needed if I worked for him at the casino. Hah, I guess he saw I was of use to him instead of seeing something special." 

"I guess so..."

"I was so desperate at the time that I accepted his terms immediately. I went from shabby clothes to a suit and bow tie in a matter of seconds. He even gave me the powers of magic that you saw me use in our battle."

"I'll admit, that was pretty impressive," Cuphead commented.

"Much obliged!" King Dice chuckled before continuing.

"Since then he's haired others into the casino to work under me. I became the boss of my own. The likes of Pirouletta and Chips Bettigan. Becoming my associates and workers, it was the biggest change in my life."

"Wow, that seems strangely generous of him..." 

"Hah, of course, there were some conditions. Like he owns my soul for the rest of eternity. Same with you two. We're all in the same boat including my workers."

"Ah, that sounds more like him." Mugman sighed. 

"No joke, he's still a trickster through and through." Cuphead agreed, taking a sip of his drink.

"Sure is. But I still wouldn't go back on it. He'd definitely know about it and not be a happy bunny."

Mugman was curious about that last statement, "If you had a choice though. Would you?"

"Nah. nobody misses me. I wasn't anybody before becoming somebody in this place."

"Huh, I guess so."

"We got the bad end of our deal compared to you then..." Cuphead moped.

"That's what you get for being greedy, heh."

"Alright, no need to rub it in."

"You know I'm just teasin' ya... I have a question."

"What?"

"Will you miss your parents? I know they no longer remember you, but you still remember everyone."

"Oh... We don't have parents." Mugman replied solemnly. "We never knew them."

"Yeah, Mugman is right. We have only known Elder Kettle our whole lives."

"Ah... Must be hard."

"Well, we don't have to worry about that now he doesn't remember us..." Cuphead chided.

"Not my decision, that was all the Devil's idea. An easy way of gettin' you two to not leave again."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Mugman thought aloud "Why do you ask?"

"...No reason."

"... Do you miss your parents?"

"Truth be told, a little bit."

"Yeah, we'll miss Elder Kettle."

And with that, they finished their meals. But they couldn't help feeling something was different. Something inside them. Though they couldn't quite put their finger on it.

"Right, Now that's outta the way. I'm gonna go, I've already shown you around, I'm sure you can find your beds for the night."

"Sure thing, boss." Calling King Dice that still left a sour taste in their mouths.

They found their beds pretty quickly, two doors with a sign with silhouettes of their heads on it and the word "Bedroom" in fancy lettering. Almost like they had always been there too with the weathering of the wood on the doors. Only the wall around them looked like it was brand new like the doors had just spawned there if their own free will. They each opened their respective door to look in, the pair were immediately taken aback by how nice the place looked.

"Wow, this is pretty opulent, Cuphead!"

"I gotta admit, this is surprising for the Devil to be treating us this way."

"He seemed so rude when we first met him." 

"I guess he does care about his workers?" Cuphead mused.

"Hmmm, I don't know, we technically worked for him before this. And he booted us out the door."

"I guess this time he owns us... we gave him the contracts after all."

"What a trick to play..."

"We fell for it hook line and sinker."

"Still, the place seems pretty nice, who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"It's gonna be hard now that nobody remembers us..."

"Yeah, Cuphead. Not more friends... No Elder Kettle to say goodnight."

"Sure will be sad." 

"We can say goodnight to each other though."

"Yeah, Goodnight Mugman."

The two of them hugged in your typical awkward sibling way and snuggled into the plush beds, very comfortable it seemed too. They both sighed. The bedrooms were nice but it felt too much of a leap from what he had before. Would take a while to get used to.


	2. Day 1

That night there was a little discussion between the bosses King Dice and the Devil. King Dice had made a special appointment to him and was there to converse some important things.

"Hey boss, How ya doin'?" King dice sounded concerned about something.

"Hey, Dice. What's the matter?" the Devil sat there counting up his ill-gotten gains of the day and had a large lit cigar in his mouth. "Pretty late for ya to be comin' in here."

King Dice wasn't scared of his boss, nor was he intimidated by his presence. In fact, there might be something between them whether or not they would say anything is yet to be seen. He walked in with his hands together and a very straight face. 

"I had a talk with our new employees."

"Ah yes, as I asked." The Devil grinned as he spoke, grinding his teeth on the cigar gleefully.

"Well. Thing is they admitted to me over dinner that they ain't got parents. Only Elder Kettle to look after 'em"

"So? what about it?"

"Look I know they work for us now but that's somethin' we should really think about."

"Yer not goin' soft on me are ya Dice?"

"No... I just think maybe we could..."

"Could what?"

"Show them a bit of compassion or somethin'."

"Hah, you really are gettin' soft. Those two belong to us now and there's nothing they can do about it. What's different about them compared to your other workers eh?"

"Sure, they're like the debtors we have employed before. I think there could be somethin' more in them. You know?"

The devil rolled his eyes and spun his Cigar between his teeth. "Heh, I'm sure you'll see soon enough that they are simply tools for us like the rest of 'em."

"Sure thing boss..." he finished. Feeling dejected, was this how he saw all his lackeys? He left unsatisfied.

The next morning came with an alarm clock going off in each of the cups rooms. It was a rather sound awakening, though. They slept like logs through the night the beds were just that nice, but despite feeling well-rested they felt apprehensive about the day. This would be the first day they worked properly in their lives, besides the debt collecting of course. Putting on their usual clothes, they headed out into the casino. King Dice was waiting for them at the craps table, leaning on it confidently and wearing his usual smile. This felt a little more like what they were used to, mostly because it wasn't all that active at the casino right now. Made sense considering it was pretty early in the day.

"Morning, you two." he greeted.

"Morning boss. They replied at the same time. Mugman looked suitably cautious while Cuphead looked more like he was prepared for anything that King Dice would throw at them. 

"Morning boys!" He cheered. Pleased that they awoke so easily. He wished Mr Wheezy and the Tipsy Troop would wake that quickly in the mornings. "You ready for your first day on the job?"

"Sure thing boss." they both said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but in reality, they were both a bit apprehensive about working under their biggest enemies. 

"Chin up, boys. You get to meet some of my associates today." He gestured behind him to two characters, a domino consisting of two individuals stacked on top of one another, a married couple it seemed seeing as the two of them were literally very close. Husband wearing his top hat and bow tie on the top half and wife in her red heels and dress on the bottom. The second character was a living roulette wheel, her head consisting of the spinner and her dress the wheel. She seemed a steely silent type while the domino looked ready for an argument. 

"This is Pip, Dot and Pirouletta! No need for introductions as you have been acquainted before."

Cuphead interjected, "Well we battled them sure, but we don't really know them."

"Ah, sure, Get yourselves familiarized, you'll be working with 'em today. I've got other matters to attend to."

Pirouletta curtseyed to the cups and as she did, showed the details in her roulette wheel dress. It was like someone had genuinely brought a roulette wheel to life, the numbers in her dress were all accurate. "Welcome to the casino." she said with a gentle voice. 

Pip and Dot both greeted the cups with a tip of Pip's hat and a bow from Dot. "Hey you two." Pip began. "Nice to meet ya on better terms!" Dot finished. They seemed a lot more chill with each other this time around, Cuphead couldn't help but remember Dot kicking her husband in the face once they lost the battle with the two of them. 

"Well, I guess it means we gotta make friends 'n' all..." Dot said a little considerate of how they first met on harsh ground.

"Yeah, it should be pretty good I hope. Judging by how King Dice was yesterday." Mugman responded with a cautious smile.

"He's a bad man, don't get me wrong, but anyone on his side is easily treated with the highest respect," Pirouletta informed the two politely. "It's how it works here. We're all sinners in this place so why be cruel?" 

"Can't argue with that." Cuphead shrugged as he spoke.

"Right, we'd better get on with it." Pip insisted.

That day was spent learning about the tables that the two workers were assigned to, roulette wheel and dominoes respectively. Seemed everyone here had a role to play and a place to fit it in. The two cups wondered what their specific role would be later on. Pip and Dot did indeed have a spat or two while the cups did some learning with them. But it seemed like nothing more than common married couple differences over actual hatred for one another. Pirouletta was pretty stoic all things considered but occasionally smiled widely whenever someone lost. Creeping out Mugman a little. Whilst they learned the Basics of scamming customers, something that they tried abstaining from but it was how this place functioned, they started feeling more inclined to do things they wouldn't do before, nothing big but it was like a little voice in the back of their heads telling them things like "Hey that guy has a loose gold watch, make quick with it!" it was strange, the two of them wondering if it was just little thoughts that came with being around so many bad people. For now, they could simply brush it off as so.

By the end of the day, they knew the jobs of their new friends pretty well, enough to replace them if need be, though that might not happen it was still good to know. Most likely they would be learning each job as the days went on. The two of them went to eat at the restaurant again but this time without King Dice to lead them in, they still got priority seating and didn't need to pay, it seemed their status in this place was somewhat known, at least to the point where they could eat in the casino's restaurant without worrying too much. 

They casually chatted while eating, today seemed reasonably good all things considered, even with those little thoughts still pertaining in their minds. Then Mugman let out a pained noise. 

"Ah! Ow!" he winced, placing a hand on his cheek.

"Oh, what's up Mugman?" Cuphead asked.

"I think I just broke a tooth," he said with concern. Before spitting out the crunched remains of one of his teeth into his hand. "Oooh ouch that really hurt." rubbing his mouth.

"How did that happen?" 

"I don't know. I was eating and just felt this crunch." 

"Let me see"

He showed his teeth to Cuphead, there was a noticeable gap in his smile now. Strangely there was no blood, and the tooth hole seemed like it had been absent of a tooth for a long time. 

"Does it look bad?" Mugman asked.

There was certainly a difference now in his teeth like they had moved a little as well as him losing one. They seemed a little more crooked than before.

"Nah... looks fine Mugman." he said awkwardly, not wanting to insult him.

They headed to bed later on, a little later than last night what with them doing some odd jobs here and there. The lost tooth became a forgotten piece of information, none of the bosses cared at all. So Mugman chose to ignore it. But that night before going to their rooms, they noticed Mugman's head silhouette had changed and was also missing a tooth just like he was. 

"Do you see that Cuphead?" Muman pointed it out to him

"Yeah, I do. Do you think the Devil changed it"

"Would be a lot of effort for a small change like that..."

"Huh."

"Let's just go to sleep."


End file.
